Inauspicious
by Vixen Argentum
Summary: Watanuki just wants to be on the safe side. Of course, Yuuko firmly believes that the safe side exists somewhere beside Doumeki. After all, it is unlucky to be superstitious. Pairing is eventual Doumeki/Watanuki. Plot and romance are my priorities. R


A/N

It sure is good to get back into the xxxHOLiC fandom. I've missed it very much.

This story will feature the eventual pairing of Doumeki/Watanuki. If this pairing disgusts you, please move along now. By all means, do not stay here!

One last thing. **I am looking for a beta.** I would rather a reader take the job because they _want_ to do it, rather than forcing it down somebody's throat in the beta search. Just let me know you want the job in a review or a PM.

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**Inauspicious**

**Ch 1: Of Luck and a Lush**

"O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars" ~ William Shakespeare

Food.

He sniffed the air. With a dull thud, a wooden tray dropped to the ground behind him. The smoky bouquet of steak wafted towards him, causing a single, slow trickle of saliva to drip from one corner of his mouth onto the dirt below.

Straining, he attempted to turn his head as far as it would go. Only when he pushed his eyeballs to the uncomfortable limit of their range could he glimpse a fuzzy semblance of meat on a plate. Harder and harder he forced, but the earth packed around his shoulders restricted all movement. But, even if he could make the one hundred and eighty degree turn, the plate would still remain a mere six centimeters from the tip of his outstretched tongue.

He let out a low cry, more of a whine at this point. Again, he tried to move his legs, but the seniews only tensed against the moist soil. A purple, dizzy aura clouded his eyes again. The dirt only provided enough give for him to breathe, and even then, he was losing the energy to do even that. He panted, his tongue that was both dry and sticky unfurled and swelling in his throat. Three days of this enduring hunger and thirst had taken their toll.

"Jiro." Two hands snaked down either side of his head. "Forgive me, Jiro."

_Jiro_. Ah, that was the name that the two hands had given him. He let out another whine, but this time, no sounds came out. Instead, he bucked his head deeper into the palms, closer to the warmth of the one for whom he would do anything.

"Jiro!"

The voice was sobbing now, but growing softer, softer still. He slipped deeper and deeper into the velveteen darkness, as if his feet were skidding on ice.

The world was now behind him.

He opened his eyes. No longer was he trapped in the earth, but resting in the grass, next to something very familiar. He was all alone. The head of his uninhabited body lolled emptily to one side, resting against the filled in pit that was his burial ground. That was of no interest. Instead, he padded over to the plate.

Nothing had ever smelled so sweet. Jiro sank his teeth into the steak, ripping and tearing into the offering. He licked the blood that had oozed from the center of the meat out of his hair, not wishing to waste any morsel.

A wave of happiness crashed over him, heady but hazy like the aftermath of opiates. Without the hunger, his mind grew clearer. There was something that he had to go do. Jiro stood up, took one last look at the land where he was born and died before setting out into the forest's shadowy copse.

xXx

Watanuki retied the white cloth around his head, which had now slipped down over his eyes. This was entirely at cross purposes with the reason he wore one in the first place. If it wasn't sweat, then it was his hair. If it wasn't hair, it was the damn cloth. And of course, if it wasn't blinding him, then it was either itching his forehead or mussing up his hair. With all the magical little gadgets that _somebody_ had lying around, it wouldn't hurt if at least _one_ of them had amazing powers of --

"Watanuki! Watanuki!" It figured.

The soulless twins circled around the boy, each armed with a bubble wand in an animal shape.

Moro blew a cat shaped bubble. "Mistress wants a refill!"

"Mistress wants a refill!" Maru echoed.

They both giggled. Maru waved her rabbit wand, and the resultant lapine shape hopped of its own accord over to snuggle with the floating cat.

Watanuki sighed. "Oi, I'm on it."

He grabbed one of the chilled bottles from the cellar and poured it into the set. _ I'm sure she'll want the snacks too,_ he thought to himself. He arranged a plate of dried squid and mackerel, each resting on a tiny rice cracker, before dashing into Yuuko's parlor.

"Here, here. I've got everything you need." Watanuki placed the tray on the long, low table in front of her.

"Excellent choice, Watanuki!" Yuuko clapped her hands together. "As to be expected from such a master!"

"April 1st Watanuki--!" Mokona had now appeared and was shoveling the snacks into her mouth, one per each lick of the possessed bubble tape tongue.

He smiled. As tedious as the shop work could be, he would never regret taking the offer.

"Anything else?" Watanuki asked.

Yuuko sipped at the thimble full of sake she had poured for herself. She shook her head. "I believe we will have enough to do today."

"What do you mean?" Watanuki asked.

Yuuko eyed him coyly. "After all, today _is_ inauspicious."

Inauspicious? How?

He looked outside. The sky was clear blue, with a sun that deigned to scorch those he lorded over. The people who drifted past the open gate, not seeing the sprawling shop, chatted, laughed, and otherwise merrily went about their business. He also planned to meet Himawari, and grudgingly Doumeki, at the cake shop that was down the street. Of course, that would have to wait until he finished here with Yuuko. Or rather, when Yuuko was finished with _him_.

"Amazing, don't you think?" Yuuko had set down the sake cup, and instead was tracing the surface of her lip with the long stemmed pipe. "That a day like today, people would be completely unaware to the dangers that surround them. That the weather would be so desirable, and their prognoses for true happiness would be so weak."

"Why?"

"Can't you feel it?" Yuuko's eyes narrowed. "Look harder, and use these."

She handed him an old pair of brass opera glasses. Somebody had etched a drawing of two male bodied angels, each reaching out to touch the other's cheek on the back. Watanuki extended the stem and squinted into the lenses.

He could see the same steady stream of people, but now he could see transparent red walls separating each person from the other and flitting, burbling purple spirits. As each person's shield bumped into another one, cracks formed, causing little spirits to begin hammering at the fissures. He focussed in on one woman, who was carrying a coffee and talking on her cell phone. Her shield had been cracked in four different places and one spirit had nearly proceeded to break through completely.

Shcrack!

The shield was gone.

She continued moving forward, but the heel of her shoe caught the uneven pavement. As she fell, the coffee cup went soaring out of her hands, the liquid splashing into the eyes of a nearby businessman. Now blinded, he cursed and flailed his arms, tripping over the ill fated woman who was already on the ground. Blood seeped from her head; she had taken a direct hit to the concrete.

"We have to call an ambulance!" Watanuki cried, reaching for his phone.

"Yes, somebody should." Yuuko purred. "But how would you explain that you saw this happen? This place does not exist to the unaided eye."

"But!"

"This day is not so inauspicious that they will not get the help they need. It is worrisome yes, but you have no need to worry."

Several others had stopped to help the two. Within minutes, a team of EMTs had loaded both of them onto gurneys and hustled to the nside of their van. The medical technicians were encapsulated in blue rather than red.

"As to be expected," said Yuuko, answering his question for him. "Most ambulances have charms to protect against bad health and bad luck. It wouldn't surprise me if they did not have charms for days like these. That is why they shine in blue."

She popped another snack into her mouth. "It doesn't protect them from everything, though."

"What is going on?" Watanuki pleaded.

"Today is one of the butsumetsu."

"The butsu—what?"

"Today is the most treacherous period of the rokuyo week, the endless six day long cycle of luck." Yuuko took a drag on her pipe. "Have you ever walked past a convenience store with a sign claiming that it is a good luck day?"

"Well, yes. Isn't that an advertising ploy?"

"Would they bother to take it down five days of the week?"

"Err I—well probably not."

"Those days are the luckiest of the rokuyo, called the teian. The teian is supposed to give protection to marriages, to friendships, and success at work." Yuuko smiled. "The butsumetsu is the exact opposite. The only activity that it is appropriate for...is a funeral."

Watanuki gulped. He thoroughly understood the importance of superstition, but every six days? This was one thing that he would like to not worry about.

"Watanuki, butsumetsu can be easily tolerated, if you are cautious. Just be very careful. After all, it was on a butsumetsu that your parents died." She blinked. "It was also the time when you met Himawari."

Watanuki shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. No matter how much he cared for her, the inherent bad luck that flowed through her veins would keep them apart in some way. He had given her tampopo so she would never be alone. Though the bird was long lived, there would still be a time when even he could not be with her. Perhaps by that time, she might have even caused the death of Watanuki. Not on purpose, of course.

Yuuko continued, "However, on the day that you walked into this shop...it was a teian. " She placed a finger beneath his chin. "Also, when you met Doumeki."

"Of course! And I'm sure that the day that his empty head leaves my life it will be a teian as well!" Watanuki did his trademark noodly dance of disapproval. "And keep your evil clutches away from my face!"

Yuuko, the twins and the mokona burst out laughing. Watanuki sighed. Why did it always end up like this?

Yuuko threw her head back, downing the rest of the sake that was in the bottle, not even bothering to pour it into the the cup first. '_Lush! ' s_houted the voice in Watanuki's head. '_Lush, lush, LUSH!'_

"Oh, and I am fully aware that you've planned to go out to meet Himawari this afternoon." Watanuki cringed. She _always_ knew.

"Doumeki will be there, so I'm sure that you'll be fine." They way she looked at him with the slight half smile and laughing eyes was both beautiful and infuriating all at once. That was Yuuko in a nutshell. "Just be back by dinner. I want unagi don. With shumai. And shochu!"

"With shochu~!" The mokona sang.

"Alright, alright! I'll be back, but I'll be late. You drank the last of the shochu on Tuesday, so I have to get more."

"Ok!" She was already blushing from the sake. Watanuki wondered what she had to give up to trade her mere human organ for an immortal liver. "Fine" he, said.

The bell on the foyer door jingled, one quiet, but clear clang. Yuuko immediately snapped to attention, sending Moro and Maru scrambling for the door handles.

"Wait just a moment longer, Watanuki," she purled. "It appears we have a new customer."

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I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Please review--I value your opinions. Constructive crit is always welcome!


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